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Antivirus Software
AVG -free for HOME USE only- If you are a business, church or charity, you are breaking the law and stealing by using the free version.
Have a conscience? Click here for paid version of the complete AVG Internet Security. This license is good for TWO years. For those of you who think Internet Security is not necessary, ask yourself, "CAN I AFFORD THE DOWNTIME TO HAVE MY COMPUTER REPAIRED OR TO HAVE TO REINSTALL WINDOWS ALL OVER AGAIN?" If the answer is "NO", then you CANNOT AFFORD NOT TO HAVE IT! Would you buy a car without insurance? I'll bet you that this INSURANCE is a LOT CHEAPER than your car insurance!!!
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SITEADVISOR
Whichever browser you use, you can download a plugin or extension at this address below which turns yellow or red when you browse to the site if problems have been recorded with the site or the company behind it. Normally the siteadvisor is green. If no data has been recorded about it, it is gray. Find it FREE.
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Firewall Protection
If you have high-speed always on internet, then you NEED a firewall. Perhaps the best are the ones that are part of an internet security suite like KasPersky. But if you don't own Kaspersky and do not want to buy it for your own personal use, then there are some free products [often with upgrades to more complete commercial products] .
"Best Free Firewall”
For most computer-afraid users, Kerio Personal Firewall is my top recommendation as it seems to cause the fewest problems yet manages reasonable protection as well.
Kerio dropped the product in late 2005 but thankfully Sunbelt Software, the makers of the excellent CounterSpy anti-spyware scanner, picked it up and will continue making it available under the name of Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall [1] . Note that the free and paid versions of Sunbelt Kerio are the same. If you don't buy the product some advanced features are automatically turned off after 30 days. The product will also nag you every time you start it. For some this is a small price to pay for a great free firewall. For others it's a real turn-off.
If performance rather than ease-of-use is your criterion then the Comodo firewall [2] is the top contender. The firewall itself is very robust and it comes with a well designed intrusion detection system as well. Comodo also supports internet connection sharing, while the free versions of Kerio and ZoneAlarm do not. On the minus side the IDS is initially rather talkative and this can unnecessarily alarm inexperienced users. Additionally Comodo has been known to conflict with some other security products though more recent versions seem to be better in this respect. For the technically initiated this is an outstanding free product and an easy first choice. Note that Comodo requires Windows 2000 or XP SP2.
Also technically impressive is the Jetico Firewall [3]. It rates highest on the leak tests of all firewalls but personally I find it awkward to use. It may however, be just your cup of tea.
Another tricky product is NetVeda Safety.Net firewall [4] however its performance is quite outstanding and it offers application control and content filtering as well. This highly capable product deserves to be better known and experienced users should definitely put it on their short list.
No longer recommended is the free version of the ZoneAlarm firewall [5]. First it is a very basic product compared to the commercial ZoneAlarm Pro version. The leak-test performance of the latest free version is extremely poor while the Pro version is excellent. Second, it can be a troublesome program on some PCs.
=>index
[1] http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm (7.3MB)
[2] http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/ (8MB)
[3] http://www.jetico.com/index.htm#/jpfirewall.htm[ (2.7MB)
[4] http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm (6.3MB)
[5] http://www.zonelabscom/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp (9.0MB)"
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Free Office Software
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For Excellent Freeware reviews and product links, click here! You can also subscribe to the free or paid newsletter which comes about once a month with MORE FREEWARE reviewed in it.
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Lotus Symphony- released in beta by IBM is a free odf [open document format office suite. I have not used it yet but IBM generally would not realize shoddy software.
OpenOffice.org Suite of software is free and very powerful. Some very large companies have switched from Microsoft Office to this suite to avoid paying over and over again for the same software. It consists of a WRITER [like Word], CALC [like Excel], IMPRESS [like PowerPoint], DRAW [like I don't know!], BASE [like ACCESS]. More Info ...
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Online Applications
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Google DOCS & Spreadsheets - Just open a Google account and you will have access to this simple word processor and spreadsheet program. Online only of course, although you can import and export your files.
ThinkFree - Online office suite - free [premium edition - pay] - accessible anywhere internet is available!
Zoho is one of my favorite places. There are SO many free online applications that it could make your head spin. If you want some extra features you pay so much extra a month. But this is not compulsory.
Zoho Invoice is great for dong a moderate number of estimates which can be converted to invoices when the client decides to purchase your goods or services and emailed, printed out etc. Also all the work stays right there so you can refer back to it.
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TreePad Lite -Award-winning Personal Information manager, Organizer, Database
TreePad Addons
EXE-EBOOK CREATOR
from TREEPAD. Freeware eBook compiler for your TreePad files.
Distribute your TreePad documents and ebooks royalty-free as a single-executable file.
HJT to Word Converter
Freeware MS Word macro to convert TreePad .hjt files into an MS Word document.
Download: hjt2wordconverter.zip (17 Kb).  Platforms: MS Word 97 or higher.
Created by: Â Michael Pemberton.
Word2TreePad
Freeware program to convert an MS Word document to a TreePad file or an XML file. The Treepad 2.x file is created right from active Word document, following it's structure.
Download: word2tp11.zip (18 Kb). Platforms: MS Word 97 or higher.
Created by: Andris Shleiters.TreePad2CSV
Convenient freeware windows program to convert TreePad files into CSV files. CSV files can be imported into the majority of database and spreadsheet programs on Windows, Palm, Mac, Linux, etc.
Converter (Version 1.1)
Free Java program to convert Netscape or Explorer bookmarks into TreePad files. This program is fully compatible with TreePad Freeware, TreePad PLUS and higher. Runs on any operating system which has Java installed. Please note that you need a Java virtual machine to run this program, it does not run by itself! You can find free Java virtual machines here. If you have problems on how to run a Java program or how to install a Java virtual machine, please contact a manufacturer of Java Virtual machines.
License: freeware, open source, GNU GPL. Created by: Frank Merenda. More information: readme.html
Parse IE Bookmarks
Free Windows utility to convert Internet Explorer or Netscape bookmarks into TreePad files. This utility basically does the same as the Java program directly below, but without the need for a Java engine. License: freeware Created by: Jack Rudder.
Bookmark to TreePad
How to convert to Palm documents
There are several methods available to convert TreePad files to Palm compatible files.
One method is to export your tree or article to an HTML file. Then, using MakeDocW you can convert the HTML file to Palm DOC.
Progect - TreePad converter (Palm)
Make your TreePad 2.x files available on Palm (in the free Project Outliner), and export your Progect/PDesk outlines back to TreePad files. Created by: Tomas Drahokoupil
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Desktop Utilities
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These are little programs which are handy to have around to accomplish quick tasks like jot down an address or telephone number or take some quick notes.
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Evernote is one of my favorite handy pieces of software of all time.
It allows you to highlight web sections, pictures, text, tables etc. and click on the Evernote icon which will automatically copy it to the open Evernote database.
Last time I looked, Evernote 3beta was quite different than V2.4. [beta = only ready for people that don't mind testing it and reporting any bugs]. However I like 2.4 because of the ease of use and saving it on my own computer. Evernote 3 saves it on their computers.
ReadyNotes (freeware)
ReadyNotes is a tabbed note-keeping program that resides in the system tray. It stores files in rich text format and arranges them however you choose and in the categories you create. Best of all, ReadyNotes is Freeware! No ads, no nags, no limits!
ReadyNotes is a great way to keep all of your thoughts, notes and projects organized on your computer in an easy to access and easy to search format. Unlike a sticky-note program, it does not move the clutter on your desk onto your desktop. Once you begin using ReadyNotes, you'll have a hard time getting by without it.
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Desktop Publishing
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 Printing and Graphics
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PAGEPLUS
Free desktop publishing and print program for Windows created by Serif Software. Useful when you want to create Ads, Brochures, Flyers, Forms, Newsletters, Handouts, Posters, Pricelists, Reports, Invitations, Calendars, Greeting cards, etc.
There are two contenders for BEST FREEWARE in this category. The envelope please!
The two are Picasa [combined with Picasaweb for sharing your photos] and Irfanview!
PICASA [VERY EASY ESPECIALLY FOR NEWBIE USERS. I use it to do simple editing, brightening up if too dark, loading photos to Picasweb on the net for viewing by whoever you share with, and making quick cd's of photos to give to friends. Also will download photos directly from your digital camera.
A free software download from Google.
Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips.
Picasa also makes it a snap to share your pictures you can email, print photos at home, and make gift CDs. And with the new Web Albums feature, you can upload your photos to the web with just one click. You can even download your friends photos directly back to Picasa on your own computer. Its never been so easy to share photos online.
Take a tour of Picasa
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Irfanview is one amazing program. I have been using it for years! It will do so much for NO COST!
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LazaLabel - (32-bit)lets you create labels, business cards, conference badges, serialized tickets, and more.
It supports popular label and card formats from major manufacturers, and can also be user configured.
You can compose graphics using any combination of lines, rectangles, ellipses, and polygonal figures. Lines and fills can be colored from a 125 color palette.
It can import WMP as well as bitmapped graphics in several of the popular formats (BMP, TIF, PCX, PNG).
Text can be rendered in all your TrueType fonts, in various orientations (normal, up, down, inverted, rotated, and circular). And you can render characters as outlines, filled with or without color.
Text can be imported from paragraph delimited text files, or from delimited text. Labels and cards are created in "layers" (on a business card for example, your name, address, logo, etc. would all be created on a separate "layer") and then superimposed.
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Swift PDF (freeware)
Swift PDF is useful for taking images (from scans, photos, downloads or any other source) and combining them into a single PDF document. Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) files are a universal file format that can be viewed on mulitple operating systems. Swift PDF was initially designed for creating PDF files of scanned pages to fax, archive and e-mail the documents instead of sending invidual pages one at a time. However, it can also be used for photographs, graphics or any other Jpeg, Gif or Bitmap images.
You can set the page sizes to any available paper size (Letter, Legal, A4, etc.), adjust the margins, page orientation and sizing options on each page. There aren't many more options or features than that, but it does its job simply and swiftly, and it's entirely free.
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Finance & Money
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Free Accounting Software Accounting Software
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Internet
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GRAPHICS - PHOTO - VIDEO
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Check out the Flashcooker live content site for loads of Flash and multimedia resources. Visit the Powerbullet forum for help and tips on using Powerbullet.
Powerbullet Presenter
A small, simple and free program for creating presentations in the Flash format. You don't need any experience to create slick animated presentations by simply typing, clicking and dragging. Powerbullet Presenter is specifically designed for creating multi-page presentations that are commonly used in electronic sales brochures and catalogues, splash screens, slideshows and student projects. You can also create a self-running show, specifying delays on each page, or you can link the timing to the sound attached to each page. Your presentations can be exported as an HTML page with an embedded SWF (Flash) file or as an executeable file which you can run on any Windows PC.
Powerbullet Presenter freeware is a complete production tool with loads of functionality to get you up and running quickly, creating professional Flash Presentations in minutes. Entirely free, no catch.
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FUN & GAMES
& EDUCATIONAL
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CROSSWORDS! - Either online or to print out. [Make a booklet for a friend!]
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Links to Free Resources
Avery printing software works with Word and Excel
Avery other printing and designing templates and more
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